You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

February 2004

Sunday, February 29, 2004

Reuters reports that the U.N. Security Council on Sunday approved the deployment of a multinational force to restore order in Haiti.

UPDATE: News.com.au reports that Security Council vote to authorise deployment of an international military force was unanimous. Forces are expected to be provided by the U.S., Canada, France and several Caribean nations.

According to News.com.au:

The resolution states: "the situation in Haiti constitutes a threat to international peace and security and to stability in the Caribbean, especially through the potential outflow of people to other states in the subregion."

It authorises "a multinational interim force" to remain in the lawless Caribbean nation for no more than three months and says the Security Council will then be prepared to establish a UN peacekeeping force to remain in Haiti for a longer, unspecified period.

The Associated Press via the New York Times reports additional details about the U.N. action:

It authorizes "a multinational interim force" to remain in the lawless Caribbean nation for "not more than three months" to help restore stability and security and to support "the constitutional political process underway in Haiti." The Security Council will then be prepared to establish a U.N. peacekeeping force to remain in Haiti for a longer, unspecified period, it says.

The council received a letter from Haiti's Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre, who replaced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Sunday morning after he fled the country, requesting an international force, said China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, the current council president.

[. . .]

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was in the Security Council chamber for the vote, said later that it sent a signal to the Haitian people "that the international community has not forgotten them."

"We understand their need and we are standing by them in their hour of need," he said. "The international community will do whatever it can to help stabilize the situation. I know some of them may think it's a bit late, but it's always ... better late than never, and we will do what we can to support them."

UPDATE II
The text of the Security Council's resolution is available here.

The Associated Press reports that Iraqis have reached agreement on an interim constitution.

A spokesman explained how the two main sticking points were resolved:

He said the draft charter will recognize Islam as "a source of legislation" — rather than "the" source as some officials had sought — and that no law will be passed that violates the tenets of the Muslim religion.

The draft charter accepts the principle of federalism but leaves it to a future elected national assembly to decide the details of self-rule for Iraq's Kurdish minority.

It's a very good thing that the Iraqis have come to an agreement. I am concerned about the inclusion of "no law will be passed that violates the tenets of the Muslim religion." This language opens a door for many laws to be challenged as "violating the tenants of Islam."

I hope U.S. officials work hard behind the scenes to modify this language in the final Iraqi constitution so that there is less of a chance that laws ensuring secularism could be challenged or voided for "violating the tenants of Islam."

The document also sets aside for women 25 percent of the seats in the provisional legislature

"There was an agreement among all council members that Iraq will not be an Islamic state," Qanbar said. "The language was put in a way not to offend the Islamic identity of most of the people but nor to offend the other side and give the impression that it's an Islamic state."

The Daily News reports about a "wide-ranging discussion" between the Daily News Editorial Board and John Kerry.

According to the Daily News:

Kerry (D-Mass.) said he would have sent troops to Haiti even without international support to quell the revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"President Kerry would never have allowed that to get where it is," Kerry said, though he added he's not "a big Aristide fan."

But he insisted the White House "has empowered the insurgents, and they've done it quite purposely out of their dislike ... for Aristide."

A Kerry administration would have given the rebels a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with a peaceful agreement - "otherwise, we're coming in," he said.

"I would intervene with the international community, and absent an international force, I'd do it unilaterally," he said, adding the most important thing was to protect democracy.

Kerry also suggested Bush sat on December's deal to have Khadafy renounce weapons programs to get a political boost. "Khadafy's been trying to get back into the mainstream for several years now," Kerry said. "There's evidence that we could have had that deal some time ago."

As proof, he said he'd heard "from friends in the British government that the deal was in a slow lock," although he declined to give specifics to back it up.

The Daily News also reported that Kerry seemed to flip-flop on his opinion of Israel's controversial security fence, insisting that a past comment questioning the fence was "a not very artfully drawn paragraph" that reflected "the rush of the campaign." He insisted he "completely supports" the fence and only questioned where it's built.

Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden called Kerry's comments "reckless and irresponsible" and accused him of "taking a step deeper into conspiracy politics." He said Kerry's remarks "are not befitting a serious candidate for President."

UPDATE: Steven Taylor, at PoliBlog, asks if sending troops to fight indigenous insurgents wanting to overthrow the existing government in a chaotic third world country is what Kerry learned in Vietnam.

Some sad news. Last weekend, President Bush's dog, Spot, passed away. The family flew the dog back to Texas and he was buried at the ranch -- right next to 10,000 Al Gore ballots.

The Democratic campaign is heating up. It's looking like the nominee will be John Kerry. The only way John Kerry can sink now is with an Al Gore endorsement.

DENNIS MILLER

Martha Stewart's friend of 20 years, Mariana Pasternak, provided damaging testimony in the case last week. Stewart's attorney strenuously objected to Pasternak's testimony, on the grounds Martha has no close friends.

France and Germany are now saying UN approval is needed before the reconstruction of Iraq can proceed. The two nations then went on to criticize the U.S for also not obtaining Security Council approval from a then-non-existent UN before liberating France and rescuing the Germans from Hitler.

JON STEWART

Consumer advocate and 2000 Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader announced . . . he would again seek the White House in 2004, but this time, he will seek it as an independent. You know your candidacy is marginal when even the Green Party thinks you're too out there.

So who is Nader counting on to vote for him this time? He said, "There are conservatives who are furious with Bush over the deficit . . . over many other issues. And they may be looking for an independent candidacy." Conservatives for Nader. Not a large group -- about the same size as the Retarded Death Row Texans for Bush.

CONAN O'BRIEN

Mel Gibson's movie on Jesus opened last week. Here's the latest: Some religious experts who have seen The Passion of the Christ say the film is an accurate portrayal of the last hours of Jesus. When asked how he got the actor playing Jesus to convey so much suffering, Gibson said, "I forced him to watch Lethal Weapon 4."

China announced they're going to open a Disneyland theme park in Hong Kong. The bad news is they've already eaten Goofy.

Marin is the 45-year-old former U.S. treasurer and mayor of Huntington Park, a 95 percent Latino town of 60,000 in southeast Los Angeles County.

Will's endorsement appears to rest entirely on Marin's "biography:"

Today, when biography serves as political philosophy, Marin's suits this nation within the nation. At 14 she emigrated from Mexico with her parents, a janitor and a seamstress, speaking no English. She graduated near the top of her high school class, worked her way through college and took her effervescence to Sacramento, where she worked for seven years for Gov. Pete Wilson. But in 1994 she opposed Proposition 187, the initiative -- anathema to immigrants -- that, had courts not eviscerated it after it passed, which would have denied public schooling and other services to illegal immigrants.

After her first child was born with Down syndrome, she counseled pregnant women facing difficult choices. She says the experience left her unwilling to foreclose for others the choice of abortion. But when she became pregnant a second time -- she and her husband now have three children -- she refused to have amniocentesis because, she says, no test result would have caused her to have an abortion. Her second pregnancy miscarried. The child had Turner syndrome, a serious chromosomal disorder.

I enjoy reading George Will, but this column disappoints. Marin may be a phenomenal candidate. Will should offer reasons for Californian's to support her other than the biographical fact that she is Latina.

Will informs us about Marin's political views on only a single issue; she opposed Proposition 187 would have denied public schooling and other services to illegal immigrants.

UPDATE: Steven Taylor, at PoliBlog, also highlights Tuesday's GOP senatorial primary in California. The campaign for Boxer's Senate seat will be one of November's premier contests. Pathetic Earthlings thinks that California Republicans are in such a bad way it doesn't matter who opposes Boxer.

U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Aristide left at about 6:45 a.m. EST, accompanied by members of his security detail. The French Foreign Ministry also said Bertrand had left the island nation.

An Associated Press reporter saw an unmarked white jet take off from Port-au-Prince's airport Sunday morning. Cabinet minister and close adviser Leslie Voltaire said Aristide was on board along with his palace security chief Frantz Gabriel.

Voltaire said Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president in 200 years of independence, was flying to the Dominican Republic and would seek asylum in Morocco, Taiwan or Panama.

Aristide left as fighters in a popular rebellion that erupted on Feb. 5 came within 25 miles of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and threatened to attack unless he resigned.

Aristide's departure comes as the mainstream press is starting to treat Haiti as failure of the Bush administration. Today's Washington Post reports that the situation in Haiti is significant to the presidential campaign in Florida:

The growing chaos and misery in Haiti have given President Bush and his administration a new and nearby crisis with major ramifications for the politics of Florida, just as he is beginning his reelection campaign.

The Post's coverage took up the press's usual negative tone against the administration:

Until the past few days, Bush had taken a largely hands-off approach as rebels spread panic and looting across the island nation about 600 miles off Florida's coast. His policy has been focused on preventing a mass influx of refugees, and a variety of Haitian experts and activists said that appeared to be a response to public opinion in Florida.

Robert A. Pastor, vice president for international affairs at American University and senior adviser to a 1994 mission to that led to Aristide's return from exile, said Bush appears reluctant to become embroiled in an election-year intervention that could fail. "This has refreshed their memory of their aversion to nation-building," Pastor said, referring to the campaign position that Bush abandoned in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[. . .]

"This is a country that is on the verge of a civil war, and you're sending people back to those hellish conditions," said Robert Fatton Jr., a native of Haiti who is chairman of the University of Virginia politics department. "What Bush is trying to do is shore up his own political base, and the Haitian American constituency is, to put it bluntly, not a part of the political calculus. They are seen as poor and uneducated and black."

The Rev. Jonas N. Georges, pastor of a Presbyterian church in North Miami Beach that conducts a service in Haitian Creole, said Haitian immigrants feel that Bush's public statements amounted to his saying to his supporters, "Trust me, I won't open the gates to them."

The Rev. Jean Fritz Bazin, pastor of a church of Haitians in Miami, said his congregants feel the United States automatically returns Haitians seeking asylum while looking for ways to allow Cubans to stay.

I think President Bush gets high marks for the handling of this crisis.

Haitian Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre will be sworn in to lead a transitional government as provided by Haiti's constitution, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said in a televised address.

[. . .]

Addressing questions about Haiti's immediate future, a U.S. State Department source told CNN Sunday that "it is safe to say a multinational force" will be sent there soon.

Bush administration officials told CNN Sunday that several hundred U.S. Marines may be deployed to Haiti as soon as later in the day. The officials said the United States would need an invitation from the Haitian government so the troops would not be seen as an invasion force.

The Marines' main mission would be to repatriate Haitians trying to reach the United States by sea and to provide support for any possible future international peacekeeping force, the officials said. The officials said no plans have been finalized.

Radio KCBS in San Francisco reports that until courts rule on the legality of San Francisco's gay marriages, the Social Security Administration will not accept any marriage certificates issued by San Francisco on or after February 12 as proof to change names on social security records.

Another form of identification will have to be used such as a driver's license, an employee ID, or a passport.

If you change your name, be sure to tell both Social Security and your employer. This will assure that your earnings will be properly reported by your employer and recorded in our records.

The Social Security Administration isn't accepting any San Francisco marriage certificates, not even the ones issued to heterosexual couples.

Resistence is futile.

UPDATE: Mayor Gavin Newsom accused President Bush of political showmanship and discrimination because of the Social Security Administration's decision to not accept any marriage licenses from San Francisco.

Saturday, February 28, 2004

It’s the “Change is Coming” Edition of the Toast-O-Meter, because, let’s face facts, Kerry is going to have a HUGH Snoozer Tuesday and Edwards, who may still try to limp to Southern Tuesday, is going to be burnt toast for sure after this week.

If you are interested in the campaign for the Democratic nomination the Toast-O-Meter is well worth reading.

Steven received official notice of his tenure and promotion to Associate Professor yesterday. When you visit PoliBlog to read the Toast-O-Meter be sure to congratulate Professor Taylor.

The Washington Post reports that work on drafting Iraq's interim constitution was halted when Shiite members of Iraq's Governing Council walked out in a dispute over women's rights.

The walkout highlights the divisions between the country's two principal religious groups as the Governing Council struggles to form a transitional government and makes it less likely that the Saturday deadline for drafting an interim constitution will be met:

Several members and their aides said the protest provided the clearest indication yet of the political gulf between majority Shiites, who largely favor a greater role for Islamic law, and minority Sunnis, who prefer a more secular system.

The disagreement stemmed from a decision to vote on a resolution introduced by some Shiites that would have imposed sharia, or Islamic law, in adjudicating divorces, inheritances and other family matters. When the resolution was rejected by Sunni members and a few liberal Shiites, two dozen women who had been invited into the council chamber erupted into applause, prompting the eight Shiite members to leave.

"They didn't like it," said council member Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd. "The women were cheering, so they got upset and they walked out."

The departure deprived the 25-member council of a quorum and halted work on the drafting of the interim constitution, which was scheduled to begin after the vote. Although it was viewed by some in the chamber as political theater, the walkout was the latest in a series of tense disagreements between Shiites and Sunnis about the shape of Iraq's interim government.

Several Shiite members have renewed their insistence in recent days that Islamic law be the sole source of legislation, instead of one source among many, as Sunnis and the Bush administration favor. If Islam were to become the sole basis of legislation, some religious moderates fear it could mean the loss of long-standing women's rights and the introduction of such punishments as cutting off a thief's hand

The role of Islamic law is one the most important factors which will determine the nature of the new Iraq. Arab and Kurdish Sunni leaders said they were unwilling to bend on the issue of Islamic law. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, has indicated that he will veto any interim constitution that makes Islam the sole source of legislation.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

The Associated Press, via the New York Post, reports that the legislative committee charged with recommending whether Governor Rowland should face impeachment issued its first subpoenas today:

Four subpoenas were issued to the governor, his wife, the governor's office and the state Ethics Commission, said state Rep. John Wayne Fox, co-chair of the committee. An additional 40 to 50 were expected, although names of those being subpoenaed were not immediately released.

The subpoenas seek records dating back to 1995, including checkbooks, receipts, bills, tax returns and expenses the governor has incurred for his summer cottage.

The inquiry committee was established last month after the Rowland admitted lying about accepting gifts for the cottage from friends, politically appointed employees and a state contractor.